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Adopt 3 resolutions for participation in the No Place Like Home program to receive the noncompetitive allocation of $1,711,136 and apply for one competitive grant in collaboration with MidPen Housing developer for up to $3,400,000, for a total project application of up to $5.1 million to acquire, design, construct, rehabilitate, or preserve permanent supportive housing for persons who are experiencing homelessness, chronic or risk of chronic homelessness, or who are in need of mental health service; and Authorize the County Administrator to sign and execute all necessary documents and certifications associated with the noncompetitive allocation and the competitive grant application
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Published Notice Required? Yes ___ No _X
Public Hearing Required? Yes ___ No _X _
DEPARTMENTAL RECOMMENDATION:
The Department of Health and Social Services (H&SS) recommends that the Board adopt 3 resolutions for participation in the No Place Like Home (NPLH) grant program to receive the noncompetitive allocation of $1,711,136 and apply for one competitive grant allocation in collaboration with MidPen Housing developer for up to $3,400,000 for a total project application of up to $5.1 million to acquire, design, construct, rehabilitate, or preserve permanent supportive housing for persons who are experiencing homelessness, chronic or risk of chronic homelessness, or who are in need of mental health service; and authorize the County Administrator to sign and execute all necessary documents and certifications associated with the noncompetitive allocation and the competitive grant application.
SUMMARY:
The No Place Like Home (NPLH) program will issue up to $2 billion in bond proceeds to invest in the development of permanent supportive housing for people in need of mental health services and who are either experiencing homelessness, are chronically homeless, or at risk of chronic homelessness. The bonds are repaid by funding from the Mental Health Services Act (MHSA). Funds can be used to acquire, design, construct, rehabilitate, or preserve permanent supportive housing, including a Capitalized Operating Subsidy reserve, for adults with mental illness or children with severe emotional disorders and their families. NPLH funds are issued in the form of an annual noncompetitive allocation as well as four annual rounds of competitive proposals. All proposals for funding must be submitted as a partnership between the County and a housing developer - or the County acting as its own housing developer. Counties are not limited in the number of proposals that can be submitted and any Solano County competitive proposal will compete against other medium sized counties in each round of competitive funding. The requested resolution and proposed project is for the first competitive round and first competitive application from Solano County under NPLH.
H&SS proposes to combine the noncompetitive allocation of $1,711,136 with a competitive application of up to $3,400,000 in partnership with MidPen Housing to construct a 70-unit affordable housing community at 1700 Santa Monica Avenue in Fairfield. MidPen is a housing developer as well as an owner and service provider with a long history of successfully developing similar projects across the Bay Area. MidPen has proposed setting aside 34 of the housing units under the NPLH program to provide permanent supportive housing to individuals or families experiencing mental illness who are experiencing homelessness, chronic homelessness or who are at risk of chronic homelessness. The City of Fairfield’s Housing Authority is in support of this designation of units and anticipates providing project-based Section 8 vouchers for the NPLH units making the affordable to clients referred by a County or contracted mental health provider. The competitive application is to the California Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD) by January 30, 2019. If the project does not receive the competitive aware, H&SS will return to the Board at a later date with an alternate proposal for use of the funding.
On September 12, 2017, the Board approved the submission of a grant application for the NPLH Technical Assistance grant in anticipation and preparation of the competitive application and noncompetitive allocation.
FINANCIAL IMPACT:
The permanent supportive housing services that will assist mentally ill individuals in maintaining their housing has many direct and indirect cost benefits to the County in terms of other services impacted by homelessness including inpatient care. The NPLH program requires a commitment to provide residential services (the developer/owner) and supportive housing mental health services (the County) for 20 years. The department anticipates that individuals will be referred to housing through their existing case management or mental health program provider. When these residents become stabilized and do not need intensive mental health services, an expansion of the contracted permanent supportive housing program may be required so that each NPLH resident has an involved housing specialist. This service expansion would be funded through MHSA revenue; the current MHSA Plan identifies housing and homelessness as one of its highest priorities.
Funds may be set aside from the NPLH funds received for a capital operating subsidy reserve.
DISCUSSION:
The NPLH legislation was signed into law by Governor Brown on July 1, 2016. Stalled by litigation regarding the infringement upon the Mental Health Services Act as written and approved by the votes, the initiative was placed on the November 2018 ballot as Proposition 2, the No Place Like Home Act. It was approved by California voters and was followed by the swift announcement of the first round of funding opportunity. Additional details associated with the grant program may be found on the California Department Housing and Community Development’s NPLH webpage:
<http://hcd.ca.gov/grants-funding/active-funding/nplh.shtml>
All project applications must be submitted by Counties in partnership with a housing developer (unless the County elects to serve as its own housing developer), including the universal application, a Board Resolution, and the current strategic plan for addressing homelessness. The County’s strategic plan is current but requires additional information to include the elements required by NPLH. A portion of the NPLH technical assistance funds will be used to fund this addendum to the current plan. The balance of these funds may be used for grant writing for future competitive applications.
On August 15, 2018, the HCD issued the Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFA) for the noncompetitive allocation intending to award $190 million. The amount assigned to each County is based upon their proportional share of the state’s homeless population as measured by the most recent published unsheltered and sheltered point-in-time count. Solano is receiving $1,711,136 in this year’s allocation.
On October 15, 2018, the first round of competitive application Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFA) was issued and is due on January 30, 2019. Round 1 includes $52,445,511 assigned for competition among medium sized counties - there are 14 medium counties. There will be four rounds annually with no limit to the number of applications a County may submit, though each application may have only one project and one housing developer.
MidPen operates through four non-profit companies that work together to fulfill their mission “to provide safe, affordable housing of high quality to those in need and to establish stability and opportunity in the lives of our residents.”
1. MidPen Housing drives all the development efforts including planning, design, construction and renovation.
2. MidPen Property Management provides the professional property management for the communities they own or in contract with other non-profit affordable housing communities.
3. MidPen Services provides the onsite support programs to develop a supportive community.
4. Hello Housing develops and preserves small-scale affordable housing with an emphasis on creating opportunities for low and moderate-income households to benefit from home ownership.
The planned affordable housing at 1700 Santa Monica Street in Fairfield will have 70 units including studios, one bedroom, and two-bedroom apartments. This project is being funded through a variety of sources including tax credit applications and a commitment from the City of Fairfield of $2 million plus the 3.5 acres of land, and a $1.3 million Pre-Development Loan Agreement and Promissory Note. With the anticipated project-based Section 8 vouchers, MidPen will operate the property and allocate 34 units to those individuals and families eligible under the NPLH criteria.
The current timeline is to begin construction in March 2020, with an anticipated time of 14 to 16 months to complete the construction. The County and developer must commit to providing supportive services to the NPLH residents for a duration no less than twenty years, as is common for supportive housing construction programs. Services are viewed as an essential aspect for successfully maintaining housing by this high-risk population.
MidPen will provide onsite residential services (property management, community development and activities) and the County Department of Health and Social Services, Behavioral Health Division, will provide mental health services (either directly or in the form of a contracted agency) under a permanent supportive housing model for NPLH residents. These services may vary in intensity based upon the individualized needs and represent the core services that the County is already required to provide to its target population of individuals with severe mental illness. The required services include: case management, peer support, mental health treatment, substance use services, support in linkage to physical health care, benefits counseling and advocacy, and basic housing retention skills.
NPLH also encourages but does not require other beneficial services such as: services for co-occurring mental health and physical health issues or co-occurring mental health and substance use disorders not already required, recreational and social activities, educational services, employment services, and assistance in obtaining access to other needed services such as civil legal services. Residents will be linked to the appropriate resources in the community for many of the services deemed optional.
This affordable housing project is one of three housing projects reviewed that are currently in the planning stages across the county. Eden Housing is working with the cities of Vallejo and Vacaville on planned affordable housing properties and H&SS is exploring working with Eden to apply for NPLH funds for units in their housing projects. Eden is not yet ready for the first round of competitive NPLH applications. H&SS is proposing dedication of this year’s noncompetitive allocation in combination with the competitive application with MidPen project in the due to the potential to secure larger impact. The City of Fairfield’s Housing Authority’s allocation of Section 8 vouchers creates a larger number of units designated to mental health clients than is available through the other projects in Vallejo or Vacaville. Additionally, MidPen has indicated it is ready to submit during the first round of the competitive applications and demonstrating the commitment of the noncompetitive allocation funds to this project will strengthen the competitive application. With both funding sources combined, and the city’s commitment of vouchers, the project provides the potential for the greatest impact for the community and specifically for the department’s mental health clients.
ALTERNATIVES:
The Board may choose not to approve these resolutions for the NPLH grant program. This is not recommended because this program will provide funding for much needed affordable housing for severely mentally ill individuals and families in Solano County.
OTHER AGENCY INVOLVEMENT:
H&SS has worked with the City of Fairfield Housing Authority on the preparation of this agenda item. Implementation of NPLH funds and programs will require collaboration with the local Coordinated Entry organization using a standardized assessment tool which prioritizes those with the highest need for permanent supportive housing and the most barriers to housing retention - the current Coordinated Entry process already meets this requirement.
CAO RECOMMENDATION:
APPROVE DEPARTMENTAL RECOMMENDATION